Often times when we hear the word culture, we think of the differences of different countries. That statement may be true; however, there are different cultures within the same country, even within the same city. No matter what culture we call our own, there are distinct differences between that of other cultures around us. One of the major differences occurs in the realm of family; family affection to be more specific. When talking about family affection, we should consider many different aspec...

Ethnocentricity Jan Pettman (1986: 6) claims that ethnocentric ty 'is a vital ingredient ina racist ideology' and upon contemplation, she is probably correct. D'Souza (1996: 522) is right when he says that many cultures have 'an intense preference for [their] own group' over others. Yet it is perhaps the intensity of preference and the way the preference is expressed that distinguishes ethnocentricity from racism. While racism combines the intense preference with un admirable actions, ethnocentr...

Definition of Culture Culture, a term that entails everything and everyone in our society today, is used to describe the relationships that peoples traditions, actions, arts, and styles share throughout the world in different places, times, and ages. Culture can be described as the actions, arts, beliefs, institutions and all other products of human work and thought. Society is made up of all diverse cultures that make up a whole, and definitive population. All intellectual and artistic works an...

Summary: "Antiracism, Multiculturalism and Interracial community: Three Educational values for a multicultural society". Lawrence Blum is a philosophy professor at University of Massachussetts. He starts off his article stating four values that are important to the education program. They are anti racism, multiculturalism, sense of community and individuality. Racism is when a person or group has attitudes over another. The goal of anti racism is to be "without racist attitudes". Multiculturalis...

Humans did not choose to be different from one another, they did not choose to have different cultures and they did not choose to speak different languages. Long ago, when first humans were evolved on this planet, forces of nature and desire for better food, forced humans to spread all over the planet Earth, losing touch with their previous roots. With time people formed groups that would help them survive and provide better conditions of living for themselves. Each group developed their own wor...

In "Down at the Cross", James Baldwin stresses the idea that regardless of race or culture, people are human beings and should be treated equally. Baldwin criticizes racial issues. Baldwin talks about how whites and blacks don't understand each other because both have insecurities, fears, and prejudices within their own culture that they can't understand each other. Baldwin proposes the idea that "people can renew themselves at the fountain of their own lives" (54). This process of renewal means...

What is the proper reaction when culture Clash? Culture clash always occur in our common life. This ranges from minor family disputes between the children and their parents to the great events such as playing fire-crackers in Chinese New Year. In many cases these clashes were also treating as offence by law. Our country is a free society and our government respects human's right of everybody. This is written in the constitution law. But there is the problem of diversity. Many people in this coun...

Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are two contrasting terms that are displayed by different people all over the world. Simply put, ethnocentrism is defined as "judging other groups from the perspective of one's own cultural point of view". Cultural relativism, on the other hand, is defined as "the view that all beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the situation, environment, and individual". Each of these ideas has foun...

It is always troublesome not to understand another culture, especially, in New York City where we live in a society that is rapidly changing. The City has increasingly brought people of various cultures, to interact closer with each other. This interaction can be either positive or negative depending on the level of sensitivity and respect people have for other culture groups. These two types of behaviors are related to two important concepts known as ethnocentrism and cultural relativity. Ethno...

Acculturation and Assimilation Culture deals with thoughts, norms, and productions of a certain people. These modes are communicated among humans and not passed down genetically. Therefore, culture is the base from which the study of acculturation and assimilation use to trace similarities with other cultures. Another way to look at culture would be as a dependant variable. When this dependent variable reacts with another culture (the independent variable), one is able to see the adopting of new...

Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites Culture is a hot topic. Scholars (Fukuyama, Huntington, to mention but two) disagree about whether this is the end of history or the beginning of a particularly nasty chapter of it. What makes cultures tick and why some of them tick discernibly better than others is the main bone of contention. We can view cultures through the prism of their attitude towards their constituents: the individuals they are comprised of. Mor...

Multiculturalism Our country was founded on the belief in freedom. This freedom was meant for everyone. When our country was founded, many different cultures existed on our land. We abused other cultures because we did not understand them. The United States today is much different. We are a melting pot of cultures. Although our country was founded predominately by Caucasian males, our country today is run by black, white, men and women of all sorts of different ethnic backgrounds. This is why ou...

I found this article interesting related to 'The future of cross-cultural training'. No doubt due to Globalisation we can see that most of the multi national organisations worldwide, are developing their work force to work in culturally diverse environments. This enables the managers and other staff to work effectively for the accomplishment of the corporate goals. It is said that diversity and comlexity are every where and every day in real life. I endorse it and in my opinion the best way to f...

Creating a Universal Culture There is a universal culture which unites all human beings in shared emotions, feelings, and instincts. However, worldwide, there exist diverse ethnic, racial, regional, and national sub-cultures which share characteristics with other sub-cultures, but are defined by their own distinct behaviors. As people develop an understanding of sub-cultures to which they don't belong, the more positive and constructive they become. This should be the main objective of humanity-...

He wears different clothes. She speaks a different language. Why do they do that? When you begin to think about cultures other than your own you tend to think of the things that set them apart from your own culture. Why do you think that is? Is it because that is the way that we, as Americans, were brought up? Or is it simply the blindness that Americans as well as other cultures see towards other cultures that are much different than their own? Many people, as well as I, tend to make assumption...

What is an American? Well that sounds simple, anyone with citizenship of the USA. But the problem with that answer is that nearly all of these citizens are just Americans by legal papers. The roots of Americans almost never originate from this country, or really even this continent. Thus, these citizens are really from other countries. When all of these people of separate cultures and ancestries combine, then we get Americans. Therefore, America is a melting pot of cultures. What really makes an...

We live in an era where the world is getting geographically closer with times, the cultural alienation adn distance, caused by lack of understanding between countries and their cultures is increasing. As a result, a great number of conflicts, caused by selfish motives are incessantly happening all over the world. I have come to believe we can pave a better way for mutual understanding and teh realization of "A global Community of Peace and Harmony" on this planet through a variety of activities ...

"The Nature and Function of Culture" I would like to start off with the definition of Culture, which is an organized system of learned behavior and thought patterns. Always make manifest by a group making that group distinctive from other groups. It is non-instinctive but rests on a biological base of: binocular, stereoscopic, color, vision / habitual, upright bipedal locomotion / generalized forelimb with opposable thumb and the symbolic capacity of (750-950 cc). It is transmitted through langu...

A World of Diversity Ethnocentric, derived from the Greek words of Ethno's, meaning race, people or cultural group, and Kentrikos, meaning concentrated about or directed to a center is a word that greatly describes many cultures on this planet we call Earth. The official definition of Ethnocentric is? characterized or based on the attitude that ones own group is superior? or? having race as a central interest? There is a whole world of problems, politics, and, other cultures, but it seems that t...

Culture exists in every society. It is the specific learned norms based on attitudes, values and beliefs. Culture is often based on long standing traditions that have been passed from elders to the younger generation. It can be evolved through societal and religious influences. Changing culture, though difficult, can be done through choice or imposition. When culture are isolated they tend to stabilize and change is slow or ceases. When culture makes contact with other cultures, a type of cultur...